In a time of mid, when Hip Hop in Nigeria’s mainstream music has been considered almost dead and buried, Odumodublvck arrived on the scene with a very different sound. The style which he termed ‘Okporoko Music’, is a mix of Hip Hop and a range of multiple indigenous sounds.

As with all things new, his wave was met with mixed reactions, as several conversations revolved around the artiste’s actual ability to deliver. The sound was quickly tagged ‘Afro Cultism’, a tag which pays homage to the ‘adlibs’, he made during the live performance of his smash hit Declan Rice. However, it’s not only his music that has sparked conversations, Odumodublvck has an entire persona that makes him easy to hate, but easier to love.

Despite, the distasteful narratives that have been spun about the musician, Odumodublvck, never fails to give props to his label boss Teezee, while declaring to the entire world, that he is an artiste from Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.

Born Tochukwu Ojogwu, Odumodublvck achieved mainstream success in 2022, with Picanto, a Zlatan assisted song whose nomenclature was a reference to South Korean auto maker Kia’s mini hatchback. The rapper would go on to have a pattern for naming his songs after popular yet relatable people, places and things.

If Odumodu had gone quiet after the success of Picanto, it would have been easy to assert his stardom as a fluke; however, the rapper took to social media daily with controversial takes particularly on X, formerly known as Twitter. The artiste makes all his tweets in the uppercase, and expressed his reason for his methodology.

Terming his tweets as ‘declarations’, and so he declared away, in hindsight; it is clearer now that Odumodublvck manifested his rise. Before the release of Declan Rice, the rapper who also goes by other names such as Big Gun, Big Kala, Oye Pumper and Vladimirovich went on Twitter to declare that the song was going to change everything for him. And true to his words, the song named after the English football player took the Big Gun to unimaginable heights.

The song would later be used by English football side Arsenal, to unveil Declan Rice as a new signing for the club. With several collaborations in the bag, as songs like Oganigwe, Ndi Ike, Vigilante Bop, Bando Diaries and more spoke for him; one would have thought Odumodu would be off resting till the 2024. However to solidify his position, Big Gun announced his mixtape titled “Eziokwu”, the title of the project which can be translated to mean ‘The Truth’. Again, declarations and promises began to flow, amid hot takes on football, politics and an attempt to cancel him. Yet, Odumodu stayed steadfast to the belief that his body of work would change everything. Then on the day of the said drop, Odumodu postponed the release. Things took a more dramatic turn; as Odumodublvck would go on to pick up two awards at Nigeria’s prestigious Headies Awards. Winning the awards for ‘Rookie of the Year’ and ‘Best Rap Single’ wasn’t enough though, he would also pick up awards at the All African Music Awards (AFRIMA) for ‘Best Newcomer’.

In the middle of these wins, controversy trailed Odumodu over previous statements made on X and the attempt to cancel him lingered. With a section of unnecessarily serious users painting a horrid picture of his artistry, tagging him as ‘mid’, his reply to this would come in a 2 part combo; the first of which was a shiny new deal with Def Jam and the second being a mixtape with literally no skips; Eziokwu!

There is an abundance of adjectives to describe Odumodu’s “Eziokwu” and if any of them should make you not want to listen to the music, then the adjective wasn’t used in the proper context.

Ahead the release of the project, a glossy trailer was released. The TG Omori directed montage could easily rival any Nollywood action flick, and a casting that seemed to fit the bill. The story is pretty simple; as organizers of the chaos that have held the people of the land in shackles assemble, the long lost truth is found and Odumodu raises hell alongside Teezee, in standard Saint Obi fashion; to herald in a new era, in which Odumodu is there to ensure the “Truth” gets to the people. And from the way the music is sounding, everything was done right!

For a full review of “Eziokwu” from Global Editor - Africa, Peter Jev, please visit: REVIEW: ODUMODUBLVCK - EZIOKWU